Reversible outboard motor



Feb. 9, 1937. F. T. IRGENS 2,070,406

REVERSIBLE OUTBOARD MOTOR Filed Feb.l9, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORN EYS Feb. 9, 1937. |RGEN$ 2,070,406

INVENTOR T w 2% ATTORN EYS Patented Feb. 9, 1937 REVERSIBLE OUTBOARD MOTOR Finn T. Irgens, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignor to Outboard Motors Corporation, Milwaukee. Wis., a corporation of Michigan Application February 19, 1934, Serial No. 711,955

2 Claims; (Cl. 115-18) This invention relates to improvements in reversible outboard motors.

It is the primary object of the invention to make reversal safe in an outboard motor by the provision of means which will actuate the speed control of the motor to its idling position as an incident to the operation of reversal. It is preferred that when the reversing operation has been completed the speed control will be left free so that it may be manually advanced to en- 'able the device to function at high speed in reverse if desired.

There are many different ways in which an outboard motor may be reversed. In the present case I am disclosing three which will be typical. In each one of the three there is danger either to the boat and its occupant or to the motor,

unless the operator of the motor slows the motor before reversal. The present invention seeks to eliminate this hazard by making it impossible to reverse the motor without slowing it. In at least two forms of the devices disclosed the danger precedes the-actual reversal of the motor, and therefore I prefer that the slowing be a prerequisite antecedent of the commencement of the reversing movement.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a diagrammatic side elevation of an outboard motor of the type which turns bodily about a vertical axis for steering and reversing.

Figure 2 is a detail taken in section in the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary front elevation on any enlarged scale diagrammatically illustrating the mechanism which may be used not merely to interlock the control with the reversing function, but positively to adjust the control to its retarded position in accordance with the preferred form of the invention.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a second type of reversible motor in which a clutch is shifted to reverse the direction of rotation of the propeller shaft.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a third type of reversible outboard motor in which reversal is accomplished by feathering or changing the pitch of the blades of the propeller.

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic side elevation of mechanism used in the devices of Figs. 4 and 5 not merely to provide an interlock between the speed control lever and the reversing lever but also, in accordance with the preferred form of the invention, to positively actuate the speed control to a retarded position as an incident to the actuation of the reversing lever.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

The several types of outboard motors diagrammatically illustrated may all be assumed to be of more or less conventional construction insofar as concerns the transom bracket 1, the swivel block 8 pivoted to the transom bracket, the shaft housing 9 swiveled in the block 8, the engine ID at the upper end of shaft housing 9, the lower unit at H at the lower end of the shaft housing 10 and the propeller l2 driven from the engine by means of the drive shaft l5, pinion l6, driven gears l1, and. propeller shaft l8. In each instance the tiller lever 20 may conventionally be used both for steering and reversing.

The- Fig. 1 motor is fully revoluble in the swivel block 8 for reversing as well as for steering in accordance with the disclosure of Hult Patent No. 1,207,761. The reversing movement is merely different in degree from the steering movement in this type of motor. The ordinary range of movement required for steering, how'- ever, need be only about 50 degrees at each side of the longitudinal center line of the boat. If this degree of angular adjustment is greatly exceeded there is danger to the occupants of the boat for the reason that in this device the full power of the motor is exerted through the propeller at all times, and if the direction of thrust of the unretarded motor is permitted to be ex erted approximately at right angles to the boat it may cause the boat to tip.

The present invention; contemplates that the swivel block 8 be provided at each side with cam surfaces 2| of sufficient arcuate extent to be serviceable throughout the entire range in which full speed operation of the motor would be dangerous. The safety interlock feature in this motor may comprise a slide 22 bearing a cam follower roller 23 mounted atthe front of the crank case and arranged to traverse the cam surfaces 2| when the motor is turned beyond its normal steering range in either direction. The engagement of the roller 23 with either of the cam surfaces 2i will serve to move the slide 22 in a vertical direction, causing it to engage the speed control lever 25 which is normally freely adjustable in a slot 26 of the slide. For the purposes of the present example the speed control lever may comprise a throttle lever pivoted to the carburetor 2'! and movable from an advanced position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 to a retarded position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

As long as the slide 22 is in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the speed control lever 25 is motor be swung beyond the steering range the interaction of the roller 23 with one of the cams 2| will positively-actuate the speed control lever to its retarded position, from which it is impossible for the operator to move it so long as the thrust of the propeller is laterally directed. When the propeller is rearwardly directed, the slide 22 will drop by'gravity to the position in which it is shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and the speed control lever will again be subject to manual control. It is particularly to be noted, however, that the positive movement of the speed control lever to retarded position will function in the movement of the device from its rearwardly propelling position toward its forwardly propelling position as well as vice versa.

The reversal of the motor shown in Fig; 4 comprises an arrangement in which there is in the lower unit H a forwardly propelling driven gear I! and a rearwardly propelling driven gear I1, both of said gears being in mesh with the driving pinion I6 and free upon the propeller shaft IS. The clutch member 28 splined to the shaft I8 is adjustable for engagement selectively with either of the gears ll according to the Well known principle of this type of reversing gearing. Motion may be transmitted to the clutch member by meansof a shifting rod 29,. bell crank 30, and link 3|, which is pivoted to the tiller .handle 20.

To operate the speed control lever 25, the same slide 22 heretofore described may be employed, and it may be actuated by a bell crank 33 having a lateral projecting cam surface 34 in the path in which the tiller lever 20 is operated to'effect a shifting movement of the clutch 28. It will be apparent from Fig. 6 that as the tiller lever is moved from its rearward propelling position shown in full lines in Fig. 6, to its forward propelling position shown in dotted lines, the cam 34, bell crank 33, interlocked slide 22, and speed control lever 25 will immediately be moved positively toward an idling speed position. In this instance it is desirable to slow the motor not so much because the boat may be tipped, as because of the fact that when the engine is uncoupled from the propeller, as in the neutral position of the clutch element 28, the engine may race and its terrific speed may cause the dis-v integration of its fly-wheel.

Furthermore, it will be difiicult under those circumstances to re-engage the clutch without injury thereto and, if the clutch were re-engaged at such high engine speeds, the resulting sudden .change in direction of propeller thrust might actually rip the transom from the boat.

In the construction shown in Fig. 5 the vertical swinging movement of the tiller 20 may be transmitted through the same kind of a link 3| and bell crank 30 to an actuating rod 29 extending through the propeller shaft to the propeller hub and there provided with means engaging the shanks of the propeller blades 35 to adjust their pitch from a positive, forwardly-propelling angle through a substantially zero angle in which no propulsion occurs, to a negative or rearward propelling angle. Since the tiller movement for accomplishing reversal in this manner is the same tiller movement which accomplishes reversal in the Fig. 4 construction, the interlock mechanism between the reversing lever 20 and the speed control lever 25 may be identical with that shown in Fig. 6.

There are other well known forms of reversible outboard motors such, for example, as shown in Mould Patent No. 1,621,747, in which the tiller handle is likewise movable in a vertical plane for the purposes of reversal, and in such motors the interlocking mechanism shown in Fig. 6 may be used without substantial change.

Only one form of interlocking device has been illustrated because the possibilities in the way of mechanical interlock between two levers are so diversified and well known that it is immaterial to the present invention what specific means be employed to ensure the retarding of the speed control lever as a prerequisite to reversal.

I claim:

1. In an outboard motor, the combination of a bracket, an engine and propelling mechanism unitarily swiveled on said bracket for effecting steering and thrust reversing movement, speed control means mounted on said engine and movable to speed retarding position, parts carried respectively by said bracket and engine for developing motion in the course of the reversal of said unit, and a motion transmitting connection from one of said parts to said speed control means for effecting actuation thereof to a retarded position.

2. In an outboard motor, the combination with a bracket and an engine and propelling mechanism unitarily connected and swiveled upon said bracket for steering movement in the forward and the rearward directions of propulsion and for reversing movement between said directions, speed control means for said engine movable to a retarded position, and means respectively carried by said engine and bracket and engageable only in the swiveling movement of said unit beyond a normal steering range for requiring the movement of said speed control means to its retarded position as a prerequisite to the reversal of said unit.

FINN T. IRGENS. 

